


Past, Present, Future

by raregoose



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Teenagers, baavira week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-25
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-15 04:57:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3434408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raregoose/pseuds/raregoose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baavira Week Day 2 - Fluid. Takes place when Kuvira and Baatar are just on the precipice of adulthood in Zaofu, and it seems like everything is changing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Past, Present, Future

fluid (adjective): not settled or stable; likely or able to change.

“Baatar, hey, Baatar!” He spun around hearing his name, and saw Kuvira running toward him, carrying a bundle of something under her arm. He stopped and waited for her, smiling at her as she paused, hands on her knees and breathing hard when she got to him. The bundle was still tucked between her upper arm and side, and when she straightened she grabbed it, unfurling its contents.

“Hi," she began, a big dopey open-mouthed grin on her face.

"Hi," he replied, a little cautious and a lot confused about what she was holding. He'd known Kuvira for ten years, and she was fiercely passionate about her goals, so he began to half expect that it was an acceptance letter to a prestigious dance academy in the Kingdom, or, finally, a notice of her official promotion to Captain of the guard.

"So, I was clearing out my locker today, you know, because of how graduation is coming up and everything, and I found something I think you'll wanna see!" And with that she whipped up what she'd been carrying right to Baatar's eyes. He took it in as fast as he could. It was a blueprint, probably one of his own, but after a moment he recognized it and laughed aloud, snatching it from her.

"No way! Kuvira, you kept this all that time?" It was a four year old blueprint, one he had made when he and Kuvira had made secret plans for their own city that they'd totally create together when they were grown up. 

He had already had an embarrassing crush on her for two years when he made this blueprint at fifteen. He'd done out careful plans for a castle that would be the centerpiece of the city, with towering spires and endless spiral staircases.

"I know, isn't it great? I could not stop laughing when I found it. Remember all those old dreams we used to have?” Her hip was cocked out to the side and she laid a hand there, while looking inquisitively at Baatar while he, in turn, looked at the blueprint, mesmerized by his own work.

“You know,” he started slow, speaking while sinking onto his knees and placing the blueprint flat on the grass, “this thing isn’t half bad.”

She, intrigued, followed the line of his finger to where he pointed out the most inspired parts of the design, the cleverly arranged wings of the building and his own window design that he had once shown his father. The older Baatar had rejected it, but even now, the younger thought that it was a damn good design.

He smiled at the blueprint, wistful at his old scrawl of a teenage boy’s handwriting and the aspects of it that were rather juvenile. He pointed out the crude dragon he’d drawn in the corner to Kuvira and she laughed, following his lead and plopping down beside him.

“It’s silly,” she said, leaning over the blueprint and brushing aside her bangs absentmindedly, “but I kept it in my locker all these years because of how much I loved it. It really is a good blueprint. I think I must’ve had a crush on you when we were little or something.” Baatar darkened to a deep shade of pink at her confession, which she passed off with a laugh but he clung to her words, not believing that she could’ve ever possibly crushed on him.

“Really?” He asked, trying not to sound too excited. She, thinking he was teasing, stuck out her tongue at him.

“Yes, really, doofus!” She reached out a playfully shoved him. “Spirits, I was fourteen years old, and you were a cute boy a year older than me, what do you expect? C’mon, wipe that grin off your face, we’re both basically adults!” He hadn’t realized he had been grinning, but he quickly dropped it when she called him out.

“You’re right. We’ve grown up a lot since the old times. I can’t believe you’re graduating in a week, how crazy is that?” 

They shared a moment, the silence permeated by nostalgia from the past and an uncertainty toward the future, in which neither of them knew what to expect. She broke the eye contact, looking back down at the wrinkled blueprint. 

“Since we’re both mature adults now, we can totally refurbish this old blueprint with no shame. Do you have a pencil?” He nodded and pulled one out, and quickly while she wasn’t looking, pushed his glasses off the bridge of his nose to wipe the sweat that had gathered there.

They marked up the blueprint over friendly chatter, conversations about work and the city and that new restaurant and how Kuvira had been teaching little kids in Zaofu dance. Opal, who sometimes went down and danced at the studio for fun, had been giving Baatar extensive, although unsolicited, reports on Kuvira and the children, knowing better than anyone how she and her brother felt about each other.

“So, have your official Captain papers gone through yet?” He asked after a minute, remembering that the old Captain had recently quit due to a new baby and a wife who had a job that could support them. Kuvira was second in command despite her youth, and it was only a matter of time.

“Hah, no, they haven’t,” she said, shaking her head. “And hey, don’t tell people about that. Since nothing’s official you can’t assume, and besides, I’m only eighteen.”

“You are so getting it, though, I can’t even pretend to think that you won’t. You’ve got this amazing, wide future in front of you-”

“We both do,” she interrupted, grabbing his arm to stop him, “stop talking like I’m some sort of grand savior of the world, when you are like, so right there too. Your designs are awesome, even the ones you made when you were fifteen. I can’t wait to see what you’ll bring to this city, and I’ll help you out, okay? We’re gonna be here until we’re old and gray and this city is gonna be way better than it is now. You and me. We’re gonna kill this adulthood thing.”

Her hand was on his arm. She was intently peering through his dirty glasses into his eyes, and she vaguely realized that she had just given him an uninvited speech about growing old together. In the back of her mind, she wondered if that childhood crush had ever really gone away.

She was half expecting him to get up and brush her off and tell her to stop giving him motivational speeches. It wouldn’t be the first time. It was a silly little habit of hers. But he just tilted his head and maintained the eye contact, the corners of his mouth even creeping up a fraction into a smile.

“Yeah,” he just said, “I guess we really are.”

**Author's Note:**

> yayyy i got this one posted too! im home sick today and my apush notes wont print so i decided to post this instead of studying hahaha. i like this one a little better than my day one post, but still not very much :// i have a few good ideas for the rest of the week though (however belated i am) anyway, thanks for reading!! one day ill write something other than baavira.... maybe


End file.
